M. Bison
M. Bison, known as Vega (ベガ, Bega?) in Japan, was one of the primary bosses of the Street Fighter fighting games. First introduced in Street Fighter II: The World Warrior, he was a recurring boss and antagonist of the Street Fighter games. "M. Bison" was originally the name of another Street Fighter II character, a boxer who closely resembled Mike Tyson. Capcom considered Bison to be a legal liability, and rearranged the names of its characters once the game was localized for the United States. The boxer was renamed Balrog, and Vega inherited the name M. Bison. A would-be world dictator, M. Bison's ambition was to control the world's governments through his covert crime syndicate, Shadaloo (シャドルー, Shadorū?, sometimes "Shadowlaw"). He served as the host of Street Fighter II's fighting tournament and was the last opponent fought in the game. Several of the game's characters had a personal vendetta against Bison, and entered the tournament in the hope of having a shot at him. M. Bison wielded Psycho Power, an evil energy which manifested as blue flames and electricity. Story M. Bison's first chronological appearance is in Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors' Dreams, which takes place in the years preceding Street Fighter II. He is the head of an elusive paramilitary enterprise known as Shadaloo. Throughout the Street Fighter series, Bison's headquarters is shown to be located in Thailand. His origin is a mystery, as is the source of his powerful telekinesis. At some point in the past, Bison discarded what he considered the "weakest" parts of his soul in order to master Psycho Power. These fragments later reshaped themselves into a woman named Rose, the physical manifestation of Bison's 'good' energy. Bison is responsible for the murder of Chun-Li's father, an Interpol agent who was investigating Shadaloo. Seeking revenge, Chun-Li joins Interpol as an adult and vows to avenge her father's death. After Bison begins attracting attention from the U.S. military, two Air Force officers named Guile and Charlie infiltrate Bison's unit. Charlie is later killed in action, resulting in Guile's intense antipathy toward Bison later on. In Street Fighter Alpha 3, Bison constructs the Psycho Drive, a machine which will exponentially increase his Psycho Power. By this time, Bison's power has begun to exceed the limits of his own body. In searching for a new host, Bison orders his scientists to engineer a body for him to harvest. However, the result—a clone named Cammy White—resists Shadaloo's programming and escapes the facility. M. Bison then turns his sights to Ryu, one of the most powerful fighters in the world, as a possible host body. Bison captures Ryu, and subjects him to intense mind control. When Sagat objects, M. Bison sets Evil Ryu loose on him, joking that Sagat will finally have his rematch. With Sagat's urging, Ryu regains his senses and fights off his brainwashing, forcing Bison to retreat into the Psycho Drive. The machine restores Bison's power, but only forestalls his inevitable deterioration. Also in Street Fighter Alpha 3, Charlie and Guile embark on a mission to stop Shadaloo's latest weapon: a satellite, fueled by Bison's Psycho Power, which can obliterate any location on Earth. Guile and Charlie are joined by Chun-Li, and the three of them battle M. Bison. In order to hold Bison off, Charlie continues to fight him even as the base is set to explode, eventually sacrificing his own life. With his body destroyed, M. Bison possesses Rose and inhabits her body until his scientists can forge a new one for him. Bison reemerges in Street Fighter II with a newer, gaunt appearance, the result of transferring his mind into a new shell. His Psycho Power is severely depleted as a result. He is finally killed by Akuma, who slays him with his signature move, the Shun Goku Satsu. Bison is not heard from in Street Fighter III, and Chun-Li's mid-boss dialogue with Urien in Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike suggests that Shadaloo was dismantled. Bison returned in Street Fighter IV and Super Street Fighter IV, installments of the series that chronologically took place between Street Fighter II and Street Fighter III. Though Bison's reappearance in SFIV contradicts his death in SFII, the mystery of how he survives Akuma's Shun Goku Satsu attack remains unknown. Karin orders her steward Shibazaki to fire a gigantic laser beam from her family's satellite "Red Spider Lily" (Manjushage) high up in space. The beam destroys the Shadaloo base and kills Bison. Personality M. Bison is an archetypical villain character motivated by his own selfish interests and lust of power. He is a ruthless, callous and an unforgiving dictator with no hesitations for destroying anyone or anything who opposes him. He shows a complimenting side, however, when he states to Karin Kanzuki that he watched her and Sakura fight, stating that they fight very well for girls and, after she defeats his Dolls, that Karin did well and is a qualified fighter. While demanding absolute loyalty and obedience from his subordinates, Bison considers them more pawns than human beings and tolerates his henchmen only as long as they serve his dark ambitions: he decides to exterminate Cammy and the Dolls for becoming useless to his further plans in Street Fighter Alpha 3 and tries to eliminate Seth for usurping him in Street Fighter IV. He is not above trying to use coercion by force (during Fei-Long's storyline in SFA3) and brainwashing to convert skilled martial artists to his cause. Bison shows no compassion or mercy towards his hapless victims, considering them insignificant and pitiful wretches not worth living. As the founder and leader of Shadaloo, he is prepared to gain power and wealth using all possible criminal activities, ranging from drug trafficking and arms dealing to terrorism and illegal human experimentation. Bison is supremely arrogant and narcissistic with an ego that rivals or may even surpass that of Vega and a penchant for fancying himself a god. He has nothing but contempt for his opponents and considering himself the superior fighter for mastering Psycho Power. However, Akuma notes during his pre-final boss dialogue in SFA3 that Bison is foolish for not relying solely upon his fists. As stated in his own pre-boss fight dialogue with Ryu in SFA3, Bison's ultimate goal is to rule the world forever and be recognized as the most powerful martial artist of all time. Intending to accomplish that objective, Bison has cheated death and returned to wreck havoc not once but twice. Unlike other villainous boss characters of the series, like Gill (who desires to rule mankind as a benevolent sovereign) or Akuma (who wants to test his strength against worthy opponents), Bison is interested in tormenting, exploiting and ultimately oppressing other people to achieve absolute power for his own selfish urges. Unsurprisingly, he has earned the eternal hatred from many other Street Fighter characters (Chun-Li, Guile, Guy, Cammy, Rose, T. Hawk, etc.) for his malevolent and sinister nature. Having banished all goodness in his heart to control Psycho Power, he possesses a dark and irredeemable spirit. He does display a twisted sense of humor which, not to mentioning his characteristic "business before pleasure" attitude, makes him quite a unique and effective villain in the series. Bison also has little regard for the suffering and damages he caused, as mentioned in several of his win quotes and also brands others to be weak or that they don't stand a chance against him. He is perhaps the most powerful and certainly the most evil character of the Street Fighter franchise. Other Appearances In the Versus series of crossover fighting games, M. Bison was frequently included among the ranks of Capcom characters. Both X-Men vs. Street Fighter (1996) and Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter (1997) featured him as a playable character. Bison's character sprite was identical to that of his Street Fighter Alpha incarnation. He was noticeably absent from the Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes roster, though he appeared in several characters' ending sequences. In Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes (2000), the Alpha version of Bison was once again a playable character, though he had to be unlocked before he was made available. He will appear again in Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds. Bison underwent a makeover for his role in Capcom vs. SNK, reverting to the slimmer appearance of his Street Fighter II debut. In Capcom vs. SNK 2 (2001), Bison appeared at the halfway point as a mid-boss (along with Geese Howard) if the player had accumulated enough points. More recently, he was included as a playable character in SVC Chaos. Bison also appeared in Capcom Fighting Evolution (2004), which featured an assortment of characters from individual series published by Capcom. Outside of the fighting game genre, a super-deformed version of M. Bison has also appeared in the handheld collectible card game SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash (1999). He also appeared in the Japan-only action/tactical RPG hybrid Namco x Capcom. Trivia *M. Bison was inspired off of Kato Yasunori (played by Kyusaku Shimada) from the historical/fantasy film, Tokyo: The Last Megalopolis. *He and Kato have similar abilities. Like teleportation, levitation, possession, telekinesis, telepathy, etc. *The Street Fighter II portrait of M. Bison had the likeness of Kato (Kyusaku Shimada). Gallery Image:SFIIBison.png|''Street Fighter II'' Image:SFIIMBisonArt.png|''Street Fighter II'' by Shoei Image:SFIIHyperBison.png|''Street Fighter II Turbo'' Image:SuperSFIIBison.png|''Super Street Fighter II'' Image:SuperSFIITurboBison.png|''Super Street Fighter II Turbo'' by Bengus Image:SFAMBison.png|''Street Fighter Alpha'' Image:SFABison&Rose.png|''Bison'' and Rose Image:SFA2Bison.png|''Street Fighter Alpha 2'' Image:SFA3MBison.png|''Street Fighter Alpha 3'' Image:XSFMBison.png|''X-Men vs. Street Fighter'' Image:MarSFMBison.png|''Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter'' Image:CapSNKMBison.png|''Capcom vs. SNK'' by Shinkiro Image:MarCap2MBison.png|''Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes'' Image:MarCap2MBison2.png|''Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes'' Image:M._Bison.jpg|M.Bison in Capcom vs. SNK 2 (Capcom groove) Image:CapSNK2MBison.png|M. Bison in Capcom vs. SNK 2 (SNK groove) Image:CapEvoMBison.png|''Capcom Fighting Evolution'' Image:SSFIITRBison.png|''Super Street Fighter II Turbo Revival'' Image:SSFIITRBison2.png|''Super Street Fighter II Turbo Revival'' Image:SVCMBison.png|''SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos'' by Nona Image:SFIVMBison.png|''Street Fighter IV'' by Daigo Ikeno Image:MBison.png|''Street Fighter IV'' Image:SFIVMBison2.png|''Street Fighter IV'' Image:SFIVMBisonAltCostume.png|''Street Fighter IV'' Alternate Costume Image:SSFIVMBison.png|Super Street Fighter IV Image:MBisonAltCostume.png|''Super Street Fighter IV'' Alternate Costume Category:Bosses Category:Street Fighter Characters Category:Characters